This is Lord of the Rings’ biggest secret, and it’s not in the movies!

Of all the characters that fill the pages Lord of the RingsTom Bombadil is undoubtedly one of the most mysterious. A real mystery to most readers and the source of many theories, he appears quickly but still prominently in the first part of a literary trilogy.

However, as some fans may not be concerned, he is not in the 2001 Peter Jackson adaptation at all. Presumably cut from the film due to narrative pacing, the episode it involved, however, took place quite differently, not in The Fellowship of the Ring, but in an extended version of The Two Towers.

Recall that in the book, Tom Bombadil intervenes in the first part of the journey carried out by Frodo, when the latter has not yet reached Rivendell, but is heading to the city of Brie, where he should find Gandalf in company. Sam, Mary and Pippin.

While the four hobbits are traversing an ancient forest with a very strange reputation, Merry and Pippin fall asleep near a large tree and find themselves in its roots as they sleep. While Frodo and Sam try in vain to free them from their knotted bonds, a strange character appears: Tom Bombadil.

Humming and hopping down the road, too big to be a hobbit but too small to be human, he interrupts by uttering some strange words in an unknown language, which instantly relieves the hobbits. He then invites them to stay at his home, where they are met by his wife, the magnificent Baye d’Or.

Like a great video Glass chainTom Bombadil is perhaps the greatest mystery of The Lord of the Rings, and he is the only character in the story who is not corrupted in one ring. When asked who he really is, here is an excerpt of what he says about himself in the third person, from Tolkien’s pen:

“Chief, this is what I am. Tom was here before the river and the trees, Tom remembers the first drop of rain and the first bump. He paved the paths before the great crowd and saw the little people coming, he was here before. Kings and tombs (…). When the Elves passed west, the tribe was already like that, until the seas turned. He knew the darkness under the stars when it was fearless—before the Dark Lord came from without.”

As mentioned above, this is why Tom Bombadil is not at all in director Peter Jackson’s feature films, which would undoubtedly lose their effectiveness by focusing on him. But in the long version of the second opus, we can see Merry and Pippin buried in the roots of a tree in Fangorn Forest.

However, here it is not Bombadil who comes to their aid, but Ent Treebeard: a character who, according to Billy Boyd (Pippin’s interpreter), more or less acts as a substitute for Tom Bombadil, since he embodies wisdom. The latter, as well as his millennial view of the world.

“Many regretted the absence of Tom Bombadil. This is justified, because we find the main characteristics of this character in the tree’s beard”– explained the actor.

“He’s been there so long that the events of 50 or 100 years don’t matter. . Whether Sauron or Aragorn takes power ultimately has little effect on their worldview. You can see it for Treebeard reasons. Since it does not apply to him, it does not count. And it’s up to the hobbits to prove to him that if it matters. (…) It was important to show that. Treebeard becomes, in a way, this collective memory of who Tom Bombadil was, who was there all along.”

As for determining who Bombadil really is, the listed theories Fan sites Not missing: while some see him as one of the Valar, others imagine him in Istar (like Gandalf). Others believe that it is Eru Ilúvatar himself, the creator god of the universe Tolkienwho is said to have incarnated in the form of a man in Middle Earth.

What do you think about these different hypotheses? Did I miss Tom Bombadil’s absence from the Peter Jackson trilogy? Which actor would you see playing him?

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